There should be a limit to utility based on the pattern theory of identity, a finite number of sentient patterns, and identical patterns counting as one.
I phrased this as confidently as I did in the hopes it would provoke downvotes with attached explanations of why it is wrong. I am surprised to see it without downvotes and granting that even more surprised to see it without upvotes.
In truth I am not so certain of some of the above, and would appreciate comments. I'm asking nicely this time! Is identity about being in a pattern? Is there a limit to the number of sentient patterns? Do identical patterns count as one for moral purposes?
Finally: is it truly impossible to infinitely care about a finite thing?
Today's post, Pascal's Mugging: Tiny Probabilities of Vast Utilities was originally published on 19 October 2007. A summary (taken from the LW wiki):
Discuss the post here (rather than in the comments to the original post).
This post is part of the Rerunning the Sequences series, where we'll be going through Eliezer Yudkowsky's old posts in order so that people who are interested can (re-)read and discuss them. The previous post was "Can't Say No" Spending, and you can use the sequence_reruns tag or rss feed to follow the rest of the series.
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